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One of the highlights of the calendar every year in the fair city of film, the GAZE LGBT Film Festival is shaping up to have one of its most packed programmes yet. There’s loads to see and do during the festival, which takes place this year from the 2nd to the 6th of August, but we’ve picked out a couple of highlights for you to help you plan your own festival schedule. Narrowing it down to six picks was hard enough, considering how many intriguing screenings and events are taking place (we originally had five and just had to add more), but these are some of the most can’t miss moments during a great weekend to come.

The GAZE LGBT Film Festival officially launched the programme for the 26th festival last night at an event hosted by lead sponsor, Accenture. A launch party attended by special guests took place at The Dock – Accenture’s hub at 7 Hanover Quay. The full festival programme, including feature films, shorts and workshops, is available now. One of the highlights of the calendar every year in the fair city of film, GAZE 2018 is shaping up to be one of the most intriguing editions of the festival yet.

It was a happy Pride all round this weekend in the fair city of film, as the first announcements started coming in for GAZE 2018. Ireland’s top LGBT film festival were present in Smithfield at the weekend, giving Pride revellers a sneak peak at their programme for this year. They’ll be back in Smithfield for the August Bank Holiday weekend, and have now made the first of their announcements for screenings and advance ticket sales ahead of the GAZE 2018 official programme launch on July 10th.

The GAZE LGBT Film Festival has been highlighting LGBT cinema since 1992, building a reputation as one of the biggest LGBT events in the country. This August, the festival celebrates its 25th anniversary, with the 2017 edition announced on Thursday night at a launch party hosted by the festival’s lead sponsor Accenture, with special guests including director John Butler on hand to mark the occasion.

The debut feature film of Quebecois writer-director Chloé Robichaud, Sarah Prefers To Run was screened at Cannes 2013 in the Un Certain Regard category, alongside the likes of The Bling Ring, Fruitvale Station and The Missing Picture. Though she is a gay filmmaker, it goes without saying that Robichaud is not at all obligated to make her film strictly a gay romance. An important part of representation is showing diverse characters in stories that are not solely about what makes them ‘diverse’ and the subjects of this film are not defined by their sexual identity. However the ideal is still to have characters who are complex and engaging for reasons besides their sexuality and the problems of Sarah Prefers To Run mostly come from a reluctance to show anything about its protagonist that can’t be gathered from its title.

It is always worth keeping in mind that despite depicting events that happened in reality, documentaries present a narrative like any other kind of film. At the time it was released, Madonna: Truth or Dare was the highest-grossing documentary of all time, depicted a world tour decried as ‘Satanic’ by the Vatican and for a time made icons and inspirations out of the Blond Ambition tour’s charismatic and cut-from-marble dancers. The film actively courted controversy, having the audacity to show young men, partying, kissing each other (“even” wails a news report) and hanging with one of the world’s biggest and most divisive stars. That documentary had one narrative, now there is another. Strike A Pose allows the reality depicted in Truth or Dare a victory lap of sorts before showing another side of the events that played out at that time, as well as showing how the men involved in the film have been affected in the years since.

Every Monday, Film In Dublin brings you the highlights of the week ahead in Dublin cinemas. Festivals, screenings, premieres, quizzes or even a showing of some opera, get ready to fill up your day planners. You can’t do it all but with our guide you’ll never have nothing to do.

Tickets are available now for GAZE, Dublin’s long-running International LGBT Film Festival. The festival’s roots go back a long way, beginning at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in Ireland and in the years since it has had an important role in showcasing the work of gay artists in cinema. This year be the tenth GAZE since the Dublin Lesbian and Gay Film Festival underwent a name change in 2007 and with a selection of films both from Ireland and around the world it promises to be a great long weekend for film fans and one of the biggest LGBTQ events of the year outside of Dublin Pride.